Joe Fazer is known for putting on mass. He’s almost unrecognizable from the “skinny guy” (his words, not ours) he was when he first started out.
Joe’s always struggled to put on weight. But there are a few ways he’s managed to get bigger. One is through training. He’s successfully increased muscle mass in every area of his body. Two is through calories. Joe’s constantly smashing calorie challenges and drinking his body weight in protein shakes. And three is through a focus on getting broader.
Recently, Joe set himself a challenge to grow wide shoulders … and fast. 12 weeks later, he’s put on some serious size. Here’s how he did it.
First things first — Joe’s current training split. As you can see, he means business, managing to cram in three shoulder sessions every week.
Monday: upper body
Tuesday: lower body
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: upper body
Friday: lower body
Saturday: push
Sunday: rest
There’s one concern when looking at Joe’s training split — is that enough rest? Well, according to Joe, if you’re getting enough sleep, protein, and calories (and we know that he is), then you shouldn’t be over training. But as always, listen to your body and take a rest day when you think you need one.
Now, let’s talk anatomy for a minute. The shoulder is made up of three main muscles — the front delt, the side delt, and the rear delt. It’s important, to avoid any muscle imbalances, to train all parts of the shoulder. But for broad shoulders, the side delt is the most important muscle group to prioritize, so that’s exactly what he did.
Joe's best exercises for broader shoulders...
Front delts
Overhead dumbbell press
In terms of sets and reps, Joe completes this exercise every Monday and focuses on completing a heavy set of between 5-9 reps, followed by a lighter set of 10-15 reps. The main focus of this exercise is progressive overload, so he gradually increases the weight as the weeks go on.
Cable front raises
Joe completes his session with this exercise three times a week. He’ll go for one set until failure.
Rear delts
Rear delt pullbacks
Side delts
Joe incorporates the following exercises into his upper-body and push sessions three times a week.
Cable lateral raises
At the start of the session, complete three sets of 10-15 reps on each arm.
Dumbbell lateral raises
At the end of the session, complete three sets until failure.
Take Home Message
It doesn’t seem as though Joe has done that much to his workout routine — but his shoulders speak for themselves. Increasing the volume of training while also progressively overloading on weight is the way forward for building muscle, and Joe knows it.
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